The Winter and Emergency Services Team (WEST), from the Department of Health, routinely visited the hospital earlier this year.

Their corresponding report, which has only this week come to light, was not meant to reach the public domain but appeared in board papers for the Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust last Thursday.

The hospital is now furious and the chief executive of the Royal Surrey, Jeff Faulkner, called the oversight an “enormous disappointment”.

WEST’s letter to the Mr Faulkner, said: “The advice given by WEST previously regarding the unsuitability of cubicles in A&E for overnight stays, not only remains but it has been exacerbated by a doubling up of patients in some of the cubicles by the introduction of additional curtain tracking reducing cubicle size. We have rarely seen privacy and dignity so badly compromised.”

The team added that since its last visit the department had “deteriorated further”.

The short stay unit was labelled as “ineffective” by the team and they went on to highlight deficiencies in the recently opened Medical Assessment Unit (MAU), so successful in easing operational difficulties at the hospital.

Mr Faulkner countered by arguing that no one in the country judged the performance of a MAU in the way WEST does and that significant changes have been made top the operation of the unit.

But to make matters worse, the team made light of the hospital’s notorious problems with delayed discharges – where patients are stranded in acute hospital beds.

The report said that their effect on the local NHS was not “sufficient to gum up” the system.

The criticisms run counter to continuing claims that the hospital’s bed and staffing dilemmas are not at crisis point, and by patients, many of whom have praised improvements made to the hospital.

Kay Newnham from the South West Surrey Community Health Council, whose remit means she spends many hours in the A&E department, said: “This report is totally inaccurate, misleading and completely untrue. They have made so many improvements at the hospital. This is going to do nothing for staff morale.”

A Royal Surrey spokesman explained that they have made significant improvements since WEST visited. She added: “The report reinforced the areas that the trust had already identified as needing further development in light of the continued pressure on A&E and the new Department of Health guidance on reforming emergency care.”